A Low-Cost Control System for a High-Altitude UAV

Author

Chandler, Garrett D. ; Jackson, David K. ; Groves, Adam W. ; Rawashdeh, Osamah A. ; Rawashdeh, Nathir A. ; Smith, William T. ; Jacob, Jamey D. ; Lumpp, James E., Jr.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Kentucky Univ., Lexington, KY

fYear

2005

fDate

5-12 March 2005

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

12

Abstract

The BIG BLUE project at the University of Kentucky is a test bed UAV for Mars airplane technology. A major focus of the BIG BLUE effort has been the development of a low-cost and light-weight avionics, control, and communication system to manage the aircraft and correspond with ground stations. BIG BLUE I, launched in May 2003, achieved the first successful deployment of inflatable/rigidizable wings at altitude. BIG BLUE II, launched in May 2004, had a flight-ready fuselage and control system. This paper describes the BIG BLUE project detailing the design and implementation of the avionics, control, and communication system

Keywords

aerospace control; aerospace testing; avionics; BIG BLUE project; aerospace communication system; aerospace control; avionics; high altitude UAV; low cost control system; Aerospace control; Aerospace electronics; Aircraft; Airplanes; Communication system control; Control systems; Lighting control; Mars; Testing; Unmanned aerial vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace Conference, 2005 IEEE

Conference_Location

Big Sky, MT

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8870-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AERO.2005.1559596

Filename

1559596